With memories of the sweeping fires that hit Betty’s Bay in January 2019 still vivid, residents’ shackles still tend to go up whenever they see or even smell smoke.
This is why the Overstrand Municipality wishes to warn residents in advance about the controlled burn taking place in April.
A controlled burn on 80 ha of the Blessberg in Betty’s Bay is planned for the first week the month, weather permitting.
“This burn will be both a fuel-load reduction and an ecological burn,” Municipal Manager Dean O’Neill pointed out, and it will be first of the controlled burns of the 2023 burn season.
Overstrand Municipality along with Cape Nature, the Overberg District Municipality and Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association (goFPA) will conduct the burn.
“They will also do search-and-rescue operations in the days leading up to the burn to remove tortoises, chameleons and other animals out of harm’s way,” O’Neill said.
The municipality requests that members of the public please avoid the area during the burn. A map for the planned prescribed block burns can be viewed on the municipal website under mapping and then click on the link. In the viewer tab follow the EMS Management Layer List to access Fire Control.
